1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch panel and an image display device including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, due to a rapid growth of techniques relating to an image display device, flat panel displays (FPDs) such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), field emission display (FED), plasma display panel (PDP), organic light emitting diode (OLED), and the like have been developed.
A flat display panel may be divided into a display region configured to display an image and a non-display region surrounding the display region. The display region is provided with pixels defined by intersecting gate lines and data lines with each other, and the non-display region is provided with data pads and gate pads formed at ends of the gate lines and the data lines, respectively, so as to transmit/receive an electrical signal to/from a driving device. The driving device includes a chip or a substrate for driving the flat display panel, for example, a driving integrated circuit (D-IC), a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB), and the like.
Enlarging the display region on which the image is displayed relative to an entire area of the image display device has recently become the main interest. Accordingly, researches for gradually reducing a width of the non-display region (a bezel part) have been conducted. However, a minimum space for installing conductive pad parts and wirings disposed in the non-display region is required, and thus a reduction in the non-display region is limited.
In addition, when a lower portion of the conductive pad part is formed of a soft material, in a process of manufacturing or treating the display, the lower portion of the conductive pad part may be bent to cause failures, e.g., cracks in the conductive pad to cause damages therein.
Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2012-0067795 discloses a flat display panel including a first pad which is formed by protruding from one side edge of an upper substrate while integrating signal lines formed on the upper substrate, and a second pad which is formed by protruding from one side edge of a lower substrate while integrating signal lines formed on the lower substrate, however, fails to suggest an alternative solution to solve the above-described problem.